Radio program nominated for national award

BOWLING GREEN, O.—A student production of WBGU-FM at Bowling Green State University is a finalist for a national award sponsored by College Broadcasters Inc.

A March broadcast of “BG Connections,” featuring former BGSU administrator Dr. Mary McKinney Edmonds, is among four contenders for a National Student Production Award in the Best Regularly Scheduled Program category.

WBGU is competing against radio stations from the University of Minnesota and Northwestern and DePaul universities for the award. The winner will be announced in October at the National College Media Conference in St. Louis.

“BG Connections,” which debuted last September, is a weekly, 30-minute program that airs on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Guests are individuals who are making, or have made, an impact on the BGSU and broader communities, according to Stephen Merrill, a graduate assistant at the radio station and the School of Communication Studies on campus.

Merrill, who received a bachelor’s degree in telecommunications from the University in May, and Ashley Paessun, now a senior telecommunications major, co-produced the program under consideration for the award. It was hosted by David Moody, an instructor of telecommunications who shares “BG Connections” hosting duties with Merrill, from Columbus, and Paessun, of Canton.

“We thought it was a unique conversation with a distinguished professor,” said Merrill, noting that the broadcast was selected as a finalist by a CBI review panel.

Edmonds was dean of the then College of Health and Community Services at BGSU from 1981-83, when she was promoted to vice president for student affairs. She left Bowling Green in 1992 to become vice president for student resources—and later, vice provost—at Stanford University, where she reported to Dr. Condoleezza Rice, now U.S. secretary of state.

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(Posted October 02, 2006)